Abbas meets Joint List MKs, urges focus on internal problems of Israeli Arabs
Joint List: PA has no partner for peace on the Israeli side; Danon: They should be helping the people who voted for them.
By ARIEL BEN SOLOMON, LAHAV HARKOVPalestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas(photo credit: REUTERS)
The Joint List said on Wednesday that the meeting of some of its members with Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas on Tuesday night was part of its willingness to meet with anyone in the world “to promote a just peace based on UN resolutions.”Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government has a policy of refusing peace and this was reinforced by the recent election results, that likely will lead to a right-wing government aiming “to put an end to the two-state solution,” the Arab party said in a statement.“The Joint List is willing to meet with anyone in the country, in the occupied territories, and abroad, and not mention the Palestinian leadership in order to make every effort to promote a just peace based on UN resolutions,” it said.Joint List head Ayman Odeh, MKs Jamal Zahalka, Masud Gnaim, and newly elected MK Saadia Osama met with Abbas, who praised them for their achievement in the elections and their “adherence to the struggle for peace.”They also discussed the political situation and that of Israeli Arabs and their struggle for equality and democracy, stated the Joint List, adding that its example of unity is “unprecedented in the world.”In response, Likud MK Danny Danon said, “Joint List members haven’t sworn allegiance to the Knesset yet and are already running to their political patron, Abbas.Instead of caring only about people in the PA, the time has come for them to use their time to deal with the problems in the Arab population [of Israel] and help find solutions to their everyday issues,” he added.Meanwhile, the Joint List sent out an invitation to its “Recognition March,” which is to set out on Thursday from an unrecognized Beduin village in the Negev for the president’s residence in Jerusalem.The march is planned to last four days and pass through a number of unrecognized villages.Members of the Joint List, including Odeh, are to take part as well as various Arab community leaders and Jewish and Arab citizens.
Upon the arrival at the president’s residence, the marchers intend to present a plan that calls for the government to recognize all unrecognized villages.Opponents on the Right criticize such recognition efforts as too generous, saying that the state is giving away land for free for which the Beduin cannot prove ownership.President Reuven Rivlin will not attend the ceremony, because he is flying to Singapore to attend the funeral of president Lee Kuan Yew. Rivlin and Odeh agreed in a phone call that the plan would be presented to him after he returns from Singapore.
